179071214
submission
votsalo writes:
Sam Shoemaker, who is an MFA graduate from Yale, was fascinated by the mechanical properties of mycelium, a threaded like material produced by fungi, and painstakingly built two cayaks out of it, by growing the material in a mold, and then drying it over several months. The second kayak was good enough to withstand an ocean trip from Los Angeles to Catalina island.
Can mycelium replace plastic or other materials for some uses?
178175720
submission
votsalo writes:
Research by academics at New York’s Columbia Business School concluded that [Uber] had implemented “algorithmic price discrimination” that had raised “rider fares and cut driver pay on billions of trips, systematically, selectively, and opaquely”. Their research was based on an analysis of 2 million trip requests, focusing on 24532 trips made by a single US driver.
A similar academic paper by the University of Oxford was based on 1.5m UK trips.
Len Sherman, the US report’s author, said: “Uber says ‘we know more about driver and rider behaviour, so we can figure out who is willing to pay more [as a passenger] or accept less [as a driver].’ I’m in awe of what they have been able to accomplish.”
175090513
submission
votsalo writes:
From the article:
“We do around four installations a day across Cyprus,” says Mihali. “And each takes little more than two hours at most because, like the system itself, it’s all so easy.”
Cyprus has outstripped all other EU member states in embracing hot-water solar systems, with an estimated 93.5 % of households exploiting the alternative energy form for domestic needs.
All you need are solar panels, a tank and copper pipes. Ever since, it’s been a wonderful solution to the hot water needs of households here.”
167324177
submission
votsalo writes:
More than 70,000 users joined Mastodon on the day after Musk’s Twitter takeover announcement.
Mastodon is a six-year-old decentralized social media platform that uses federated servers.
156697191
submission
votsalo writes:
The California Coastal Commission approved dropping rodenticide on Farallon Islands.
"The rocky outcrop of sea stacks and islands west of the Golden Gate is home to 300,000 breeding seabirds, as well as five species of seals and sea lions. That unique biodiversity, however, also includes more than 1,000 mice per acre, a population that has exploded in recent years. " The mice "were first introduced by sailors over a century ago."
Dr. Jane Goodall argued against the poison at the hearing, but the Commission decided 5-3 to airdrop 3000 pounds of poison by helicopters.
155455339
submission
votsalo writes:
Plans for removing space debris include converting its metal into fuel for electric propulsion systems that ionizes the metal, "which then creates thrust to move objects around orbit."
